AN Australian conservation expert has been brought in to help preserve Bermuda's endangered endemic seabird, the cahow.

Nicholas Carlile, a seabird specialist with the Department of Environment and Conservation (NSW) Australia, has been invited here by Bermuda's conservation officer Jeremy Madeiros.

During his five-week stint in Bermuda, Mr. Carlile will help with the "translocation" of the cahows to Nonsuch Island in order to build up the colony there. "Translocation is a conservation technique pioneered successfully in Australia, which I was involved in," Mr. Carlile said yesterday. "We want to move the cahows from other off-shore islands on to Nonsuch, where we will use artificial nests to establish a colony there. Then they should return there to breed.

"I'm very impressed with the fantastic work that's been done with the cahows already, by David Wingate and others."

Mr. Carlile specialises in island ecology restorations and has been responsible for the first-ever down-listing of a formerly endangered species, the Gould's petrel.

Bermuda residents will be invited to hear first-hand an account of some of his most interesting work when Mr. Carlile gives a talk at the Bermuda Underwater Exploration Institute (BUEI) next Monday evening.

The lecture, organised by the Bermuda Audubon Society, will focus on Lord Howe Island, a spectacular seabird paradise about 400 miles out to sea from Sydney.

It was at Balls Pyramid, a tiny island that towers nearly 2,000 feet into the air about 15 miles southeast of Lord Howe Island, that Mr. Carlile discovered a species of giant stick insect that was thought to no longer exist.

Balls Pyramid is home to about 60,000 seabirds.

"At feeding time it's like Central Station," Mr. Carlile said.

"This insect was thought to be extinct for about 80 years," he added. "Then a few dried-out skins were found at Balls Pyramid. We didn't know whether it was true. One of the people pushing the story was an entrepreneur known for making good media stories to push his products.

"So I went out there with a team of entomologists. There were five of us. It's not easy to land there because it's a rock stack of about 550 metres.

"It's a nocturnal insect, so we had to climb up the stack at night ? that was interesting. We were fortunate enough to find them.

"We could only find them on one bush. The total world population of this insect was on that bush. We estimate there are about 20 individuals altogether. They're big ? about as long as your hand.

"We managed to take some of them off the pyramid and now we have them in captivity. We took one pair to Sydney and one to Melbourne and they've already laid about 140 eggs.

"To rediscover these amazing animals that look like they were out of the time of the dinosaurs has certainly been a highlight of my years working on islands."

Mr. Carlile first visited Bermuda in 2000, when he met Mr. Madeiros.

"Later that year, Jeremy came to Australia and saw the work we were doing and how it could be applicable to the cahow," Mr. Carlile said.

Some of the most spectacular seabirds on the planet lived on Lord Howe Island, which had undergone 6.5 million years of development in isolation, he added.

Initially trained as an actor, 40-year-old Mr. Carlile was drawn to work in conservation ecology as a means to have a direct impact on the survival of our more threatened fauna. He has been working with endangered seabirds for much of the past 15 years.

l The lecture, entitled "Lord Howe Island, Australia: A seabird paradise and the discovery of the world's rarest insect", will start at 7.30 p.m. next Monday at the BUEI. Tickets are available at the door on the night at $10 for adults and $5 for students. For further information, call 238-3239.